The Widow
by Nails For Your Crucifix
Summary: Based on his novel Enchantment. Will Matthew and his siblings decide to stay in Taina and rule over it? Please R&R.


The characters used in this story were created by Orson Scott Card and I am sorry if I am wrongly using them or their personalities. Forgive me  
  
The Widow  
  
Slowly, they grasped each other's hands and crossed the bridge together. The entire family stood in the center of the pedestal, aside from time and space that had changed their lives all those years ago. It was covered with the autumn leaves and all was as it should be. The children, no longer small but nearly grown had come to Taina for the day they knew that been coming for some time. This was the day when they had to choose between the two worlds. They sat and felt the leave underneath them and watching mother and father with their display of affection for each other knowing that this might be the last time.  
  
"Kiss me now Ivan," Katerina said in a proto-slavonic that was not slurred, even after all the years living in the United States. She fell to the leaves with eyes closed and hands crossed over her breast like death. "Awake your princess from her eternal slumber."  
  
"Your not so knightly servant shall do so," he said, leaping to her side and lifting her into his arms to kiss her fully on the lips. "All these years and still the magic grows."  
  
"You know that it wasn't really like that," she began in a patronizing tone. "There was a bear looming over us and neither of our hearts were truly in it."  
  
"Shush," he whispered. "You are spoiling everything.."  
  
The children cleared their throats athoritatively and their parents sat up, straightened their clothes and removed the leaves from their hair. "Are you quite through now?" Steven asked with a slight smile.  
  
"Never!" Katerina exclaimed throwing her arms around Ivan, "For I love your father and always will."  
  
Then, he picked her up in his arms and carried her like a new bride into the land of Taina. This place always seemed to restore father to his youth, the children noted. Though his health was not the best, this world made him a new man. Of course, they knew that it would not be this way forever. They had to choose a place to stay because one-day mother and father would be too old and die. That was a painful thing to think about.  
  
When they entered the forest of Taina, they were greeted by the village children that had been hiding from angered parents. Upon seeing their king and queen, they were overjoyed, though they resisted the urge to run back and tell everyone of their arrival. "You should return to town," Matthew said quietly. "The Widow may return if she hears that there are small children where she can find them." After he said that, they looked at each other and ran quickly out of the forest and were heard yelling about the return of King Ivan.  
  
Katerina slapped her son affectionately. "You shouldn't say those things to scare the children."  
  
"But how do we know that Baba Yaga will not return to the land of Taina?" he asked, knowing her answer.  
  
"I know because she will never destroy the land of Taina as long as our ties to each other are strong," she began as she had about a dozen times before, "and because I'm your mother and I say so." They continued on their trip through the forest and arrived to the cheers of the entire town.  
  
Then, of course, as in most stories, everyone was overjoyed to see them and everything was roses until the day of their decisions.  
  
Matthew declared that he would be staying in Taina and become king when mother and father could no longer fulfill that position. Luke and Ester were the only ones unwilling to stay in Taina, wishing for the modern comforts that they could not give up for their family. Father and mother took them back to the forest with the intention of walking them back over the bridge but not certain which world they where staying in at the moment.  
  
They didn't return. No one knew what had happened to them. They just didn't come back.  
  
For much time, Matthew ruled with a just hand over his newly acquired kingdom. But his heart had never been true nor did it belong in the land of Taina and Steven was always left to pick up the pieces. The kingdom was dashed on the rocks at the bottom for a giant crevasse when it fell. Matthew could not stop it. In fact, he wanted it. He longed for the destruction of a kingdom that he never wanted. As the days became months and the months turned to years, the people withered in paranoia and fear of their king. Mother had been right, Steve reflected, as he saw the soldiers standing over him, their swords drawn close to his neck. She had said that the widow would return when distrust would break down the ties we had to each other. But this had nothing to do with Baba Yaga. They were making the kingdom crumble and she was there to watch and laugh. 


End file.
